CMIKE Posted May 14, 2011 #26 Posted May 14, 2011 Heck...where I live I am not sure you can find any station that does not have 10% ethonol in their gas. I have not had any carb troubles yet...but I do hit it will a dose of Sea Foam once in a while and since the bike sits every other week while I am working...I make sure the tank is topped off and put a little Stabil Marine for Methonol treatment in the tank to hopefully keep it from absorbing so much water. I think maybe part of the reason my gas mileage is fair on this tank and maybe terrible on the next tank... Are they sure it is only 10% ethenol...what if it was 12-15%...gas mileage may go down more. Just incase any of you may not know...Local distributor of the gasoline puts the methonol in the gas... Gasoline is refined at the refinery as pure gasoline...then it is either pumped through a pipeline or on trucks to different locals...one city regulations may require a certian type of gas (for emmissions)...Like Baton Rouge...and another city like Chicago might require another formula of gas. California definitely has a different formula of gas and that is why it is usually higher than most other areas since it takes more to create it. The local distributor then loads it into his tanker truck adds the Exxon additives...then carries it to the EXXON station to fill the gas station tanks. The Chevon distributor then fills up his tanker truck from the same gas and then they add all the Chevron additives and it goes to the Chevron Station. The mom and pop or no name station gets their gas at the same place and may or may not have any additives in it... At this point is where the Ethonol gets added...at the distributor level as it goes out to the stations. The Oil companies do not put ethonol in the gas. All this gas may have orginated in a BP or Shell refinery some where else. Now sometimes the big names have strict standards on quaility of storage and amount of additives that goes in the gas sold under their name. Mom and pop gas stations may or may not care about any of that and they may have a little bit of water in the tank or more than 10% ethonol in thier gas. Ethonol increases the profit for the seller not the oil company. The Ethonol is cheaper than gas...thus they add it to the gas make more money. Also some local regulations require Ethonol to be added to the gas... My question is are they sure it is just 10%...maybe it could be 12-15% for that little extra. Back during the oil spill last year...everybody stopped buying gas from the BP stations...where all there were hurting was the local folks that owned the BP station. The gas might have came from a Shell refinery using Chevron's oil.
jfoster Posted May 14, 2011 #27 Posted May 14, 2011 Here in La i've been told the store owner gets a tax break on the ethanol. I've been told by our local bulk plant the 10% blend will eat up a paper filter and its corrosive. As far as preventive maintenance goes, I'm changing my fuel filter annually which some are already doing. And watch for deteriorating fuel lines. I think most will agree one can expect to loose 2-5 mpg.
Keemez Posted May 14, 2011 #28 Posted May 14, 2011 There was another thread recently which discussed places to get eth-free gas. Rather than take the time to search for the thread here's the direct link to the site which lists where you can get pure gas- accuracy not withstanding. http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp
tazmocycle Posted May 14, 2011 #29 Posted May 14, 2011 i had some trouble with it when my set up for almost 6 month during my surgeries, and had to tear down my carbs to clean them out. there was a lot of white sugary power and clear-like jelly in them and i even put some stabel in it.. i also foung out that under the needle valve there's a small brass filter that needs to be blown out too. i always run sea foam or techron in mine to help keep the crap out of the tank and carbs. we've had it here in Al for several years now and you can't find anything else. very few stations sells 100 octane racing fuel and it don't have ethnol in it. i've ran it a couple of times and it'll bust your power up and increase the mpg up over 50.
1joeranger Posted May 14, 2011 #30 Posted May 14, 2011 There was another thread recently which discussed places to get eth-free gas. Rather than take the time to search for the thread here's the direct link to the site which lists where you can get pure gas- accuracy not withstanding. http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp I have been using the above website to get my gas here locally in Tennessee! If you will click on "map" it will show all the stations currently using ethanol free gas across the USA which may help you plan your trip! I occasionally run ethanol thru the bike when I am somewhere and I need gas and have not suffered for it. I run her almost everyday though and don't go a week without having to refill. I would not like to have her sitting long with a tank of ethanol in her!
aspen60 Posted May 14, 2011 #31 Posted May 14, 2011 I dont have any trouble with the carbs but if it sits in the string trimmer or the chain saw, ethanol likes to eat the plastic hoses in the fuel lines. Ive replaced these a lot.
Guest Posted May 14, 2011 #32 Posted May 14, 2011 Was in Fla two yrs ago stopped in a town palatka at yamaha shop they where uing a product called Star-Tron for ethanal problems on boat motors and yamaha cycles. Been using it ever since my venture runs better and Im am getting better gas milage, just about all cycle shops in local area have it now. Bushwacker:301: Ditto on the Star-Tron. I have been using it since last summer and The bike never ran better. Put some in my lawn mower gas can as well as my weed whacker. Fires up right away. No more multiple pulls after it sits for a while. Give it a try. Its worth it. http://mystarbrite.com/startron//content/view/93/123/lang,en/
Aimhigh Posted May 14, 2011 Author #33 Posted May 14, 2011 Ditto on the Star-Tron. I have been using it since last summer and The bike never ran better. Put some in my lawn mower gas can as well as my weed whacker. Fires up right away. No more multiple pulls after it sits for a while. Give it a try. Its worth it. http://mystarbrite.com/startron//content/view/93/123/lang,en/ I'm thinking seriously about giving this a try...honestly though, I am concerned about side effects that may occur through its use.
OB-1 Posted May 15, 2011 #34 Posted May 15, 2011 We've had no problems with anything running 10% ethanol. We run our 06 RSV, two ATV's, a car and several chain saws and weed-eaters. Absolutely no problems.
mini-muffin Posted May 15, 2011 #35 Posted May 15, 2011 As far as the star tron goes we use it in everything we service at the shop. (I work at the local yamaha shop). Also Yamaha has said to treat all the bikes, ATV, and watercraft that we sell and service. It's like 1 ounce to every 3 or 4 gallons of the star tron. One of my customers comes in once a month and buys 6 bottles and uses it in everything he owns. Also we were informed of something recently by a customer. He works transporting the ethanol and gas to be mixed. What he told us is they don't measure anything they just dump it together. So as far as the 10 or 15% goes they really don't know if that's right. Nobody measures it and nobody checks it. At least that's here but I doubt they actually measure it anywhere. Margaret
hig4s Posted May 15, 2011 #36 Posted May 15, 2011 As far as the star tron goes we use it in everything we service at the shop. (I work at the local yamaha shop). Also Yamaha has said to treat all the bikes, ATV, and watercraft that we sell and service. It's like 1 ounce to every 3 or 4 gallons of the star tron. One of my customers comes in once a month and buys 6 bottles and uses it in everything he owns. Also we were informed of something recently by a customer. He works transporting the ethanol and gas to be mixed. What he told us is they don't measure anything they just dump it together. So as far as the 10 or 15% goes they really don't know if that's right. Nobody measures it and nobody checks it. At least that's here but I doubt they actually measure it anywhere. Margaret Whats to measure, they know exactly how much of each thing is in each tank truck, they just paid for it.
warriorhoneybee Posted May 15, 2011 #37 Posted May 15, 2011 they paided for something,i know some tanker yankers and they have told me the same thing about branded and none branded gas.its like fat free and other things we buy.look into the crystal ball and all is well.
Trader Posted May 15, 2011 #39 Posted May 15, 2011 A small engine repair shop near here has a sign recommmending that their customers use Premium gas only because the regular is all 10% ethynol here
tazmocycle Posted May 15, 2011 #40 Posted May 15, 2011 (edited) i have a friend who owns and running his gas station for about 20 yrs, said they mix the ethanol into the gas as they load it into the truck and they strive for 10% mixture, but the ethanol starts to break down after they put it in and gets worse as it goes down from there. if you were a big gas company and you can make your product be used faster thus making more and more money, plus help out your best friends the car companies sell more of their cars, etc. thats all i'm going to say.do you remember when you went from leaded gas to unleaded gas around '74 the gas mpg went way down hill. i use to race and use sonoco260(113 octane) and it ran like blazes and gas mileage went from 18 to 24 mpg. also around that time the self-serve gas station became the norm and you get awhole lot lees of service now-a-days at the convenince mart. Edited May 15, 2011 by tazmocycle
hig4s Posted May 17, 2011 #41 Posted May 17, 2011 A small engine repair shop near here has a sign recommmending that their customers use Premium gas only because the regular is all 10% ethynol here Virtually all gas is 10% ethanol here in Florida..
RSTDdog Posted May 18, 2011 #42 Posted May 18, 2011 Only place in Florida by me I have found to buy non ethanol fuel is marinas. They sell 90 Octane recreational marine fuel-ethanol free. Haven't priced it lately.Back in December when Fuel here was in the low $3.00 range (3.19 IIRC) they were getting 4.00/gallon for the ethanol free stuff at the marina. I'm not aware of any road stattions that sell it. RSTDdog
twigg Posted May 18, 2011 #43 Posted May 18, 2011 Those who are saying that using high octane fuel is giving them better gas mileage or more power are getting those benefits from somewhere else, not the fuel. The octane rating an engine needs is determined ONLY by the compression ratio. The compression is what causes "knocking", that is, the fuel igniting by the compression not the spark. Higher octane fuels self-ignite at higher pressure, but actually burn less well. If anything, using these fuels would lower your power output, not raise it. You only need the octane that you need. If your bike runs, without knocking, on 87 octane gasoline, then using 89 octane gives no benefits at all.
CrazyHorse Posted May 18, 2011 #44 Posted May 18, 2011 Only place in Florida by me I have found to buy non ethanol fuel is marinas. They sell 90 Octane recreational marine fuel-ethanol free. Haven't priced it lately.Back in December when Fuel here was in the low $3.00 range (3.19 IIRC) they were getting 4.00/gallon for the ethanol free stuff at the marina. I'm not aware of any road stattions that sell it. RSTDdog Arent marina gas station like a dollar more a gallon then a regular station?
lshafer Posted June 10, 2011 #45 Posted June 10, 2011 I normally run 91 octane or higher with no ethenol through my 06 RSTD but my last tank I had no choice but to run 87 octane with 10% ethenol. Boy, could I tell the difference. I was never so happy than to put some miles on the bike to get rid of it. Running the normal stuff again and it's wonderful. BIG difference. I'll do whatever is reasonable to avoid ethenol. Just my opionion... for what it's worth.
gunboat Posted June 10, 2011 #46 Posted June 10, 2011 hi jim as i see this is a couple year old tread, i was not aware of there being any enothol free gas in the u.s. any more. i have used 44k and seafoam with great results. but this is just my 2 cents and experiance. reguards don c.
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